Tag: Hancock MI

Hellraisers Journal: From the Michigan Miners Bulletin: Secretary Wilson Perturbs McNaughton; Gunmen Attack Strikers

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Stick Together, MI Mnrs Bltn p1, Aug 14, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 19, 1913
Michigan Copper Country – Labor Secretary William B. Wilson Perturbs McNaughton

From the Miners’ Bulletin of  November 18, 1913:

Miners Bulletin Mnrs Bltn p1, McN v WBW, Gunmen Attack Striking Miners, Nov 18, 1913

An article entitled “McNaughton’s Veracity,” concerning the truthfulness, or lack of thereof, of Mr. McNaughton, takes up almost half of the front page of the current edition of the Bulletin. Suffice it to say that Mr. McNaughton is not happy with the recent speech made by the U. S. Secretary of Labor, William B. Wilson, at the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor:

…McNaughton hollers “liar, liar.” McNaughton’s reputation for truth and veracity is at such a low ebb in this community that those long distance, epithets makes the average person smile, for instance, he stated at the beginning of this strike that 85 per cent of his employees were willing to return to work but were afraid although he had 2,500 militiamen and 1,000 gunmen at his disposal….

[Emphasis added.]

There then follows a list of falsehood after falsehood put forth by Mr. McNaughton. But, on the same front page is a story about the effectiveness of the gunmen, imported into the strike zone by the copper bosses:

GUNMEN ATTACK STRIKING MINERS

Yesterday morning while a large number of strikers were holding their usual morning parade, and when near the Quincy mine, they were joined by quite a number of mounted police who rode amongst them until a point opposite the Quincy was reached when the parade was met by a large force of gunmen. At this juncture, the mounted guards lined up on each side of the parade wilst the gunmen poured a volley into the ranks of the strikers. One striker was badly shot in the hip while it is believed several others were slightly injured by the firing of lead missiles. One guard was badly injured by being trampled upon by one of the frightened horses. The attack was no doubt planned beforehand as the concerted action of the mounted guards and gunmen would imply.

The parade consisted of men, women and a scattering of children, all of whom were quiet and were marching on the county road. The guards and the gunmen had not the least provocation for making this dastardly assault upon peaceable citizens who have a perfect right to parade on the public highway. After the melee, six of the paraders were arrested and taken to jail, but were later released. Assistant states attorney Nichols will make an investigation of this dastardly assault and in all probability will bring the guilty parties to justice.

[Emphasis added.]

Somehow, we suspect, that the last sentence is meant as a bit of sarcasm.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Miners Magazine: Appeal to the Labor Movement from Michigan Copper District Union No. 16

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Stick Together, MI Mnrs Bltn p1, Aug 14, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 5, 1913
Hancock, Michigan – W. F. of M. District Union No. 16 Appeals to Labor Movement

From the Miners Magazine of September 4, 1913
-Dan Sullivan, C. E. Hietala, and John H. Walker Sign Appeal to Labor Movement:

WFM Miners Magazine p3, Sept 4, 1913Appeal fr MI WFM 16, Mnrs Mag p7, Sept 4, 1913

…..Now, we turn to you, the organized workers of this country, in our hour of need. We stand united, determined to win. We are fighting one of the richest mining corporations in the world. It is as heartless as it is rich.

We have nothing but empty hands, our wives and children. They are urging us on, helping in the struggle. A northern winter will soon be here. We must have food and fuel. We are fighting this battle for all. We are willing to endure any sacrifice. The copper barons hope to drive us back to the mines through the hunger of our wives and children That is the only thing that can defeat us. Bayonets do not scare us, and thugs won’t mine copper. 

If the mine managers of this district knew that the American labor movement was behingd us, that you would not see us defeated for the lack of bread, the fight would be won now.

Speak so that the copper kings and the world will know that you are behind us in this strike with your dollars as well as sympathies…..

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: The Michigan Copper Miners’ Strike by Edward J. McGurty, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Stick Together, MI Mnrs Bltn p1, Aug 14, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday September 2, 1913
“Copper Country” of Michigan – Striking Copper Miners Standing Firm

From the International Socialist Review of September 1913:

The Copper Miners’ Strike
By Edward J. McGurty

[Part II of II]

MI Copper Strike McGurty, Miners Homes, ISR p153, Sep 1913

So far [the mine operators] have been unable to intimidate the miners. The men are standing firmly. Parades are held every day along the 28 miles which comprise the range. Meetings of from three to six thousand are held every day in Calumet, Hancock, South Range and Mass City. There is no sign of weakening on the part of the men. They are determined upon a victory. They will refuse to submit to the slavery of the Copper Kings any longer. Thirty years of it has been enough.

The principal bone of contention at present is the recognition of the union. The men have made up their minds on this point. The mine-ownes have also apparently done so. The struggle is on in earnest. The miners are up against tremendous odds. They have absolute solidarity in their ranks, however, and that means a great deal. They are going to win! The copper barons are already desperate!

August 5th. The enclosed affidavit was sent to Ferris on the 29th of July and Ferris has absolutely refused to take the troops from this county. They are still in Keweenaw county at this writing.

Hon. W. N. Ferris, Governor,
Lansing, Michigan.

I, John H. Hefting, sheriff of Keweenaw county, Michigan, hereby certify, that I was requested and urged by certain mining officials to call troops, and I refused as I did not see any necessity, inasmuch as there had been perfect peace and order and not a single infraction of the law committed since the strike commenced. The said mining officials urged me to get your permission to call upon General Abbey for troops, in case I needed them and not otherwise. My intention was not to call troops into this county. On July 29, 1913, several troops appeared at the boundary line, and I protested against troops being brought into this county as conditions did not require it. Whereupon one of the officers of the army stated to me that if I did not permit the troops to enter Keweenaw county at that time, that no matter how bad conditions became even though the location would burn down, they would not give any assistance thereafter. The telegram was made out by the attorney for the company and my attention was called to sign it. I requested them to give me time to consider the case at least one day, but their answer was that I must decide at once. Therefore I request you to withdraw all troops from this county.

Respectfully yours,
JOHN HEFTING,
Keweenaw County Sheriff.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this day, the 29th of July, 1913. My commission expires March 4, 1917.

]. A. HAMILTON,
Notary Public.

The newspapers here carried on a three-day campaign to form a “back-to-work” movement and yesterday got one of the company tools to act as chairman, surrounded on the platform by shift and trammer bosses, at a meeting called by the Calumet & Hecla Co., to appoint a committee from the workers to meet with the bosses, and as the chairman put it, find out on what terms the C. & H. would allow its employes to go back to work. The miners saw through the game immediately and refused to “fall” for the game. They started the cry of “scab” and left the hall for union headquarters.

Mother Jones arrived today [morning of August 5th] and was met at the depot by the strikers. They stood bare-headed in two lines two miles long, while she went through to the union hall. She refused to ride in an automobile which had been brought for her. Ten thousand strikers will pack the Palestra and neighboring halls tomorrow to hear her. She will then go over the range, addressing meetings in the various “locations.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: The Michigan Copper Miners’ Strike by Edward J. McGurty, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones, Joseph and Laura Cannon Speak to Striking Miners and Families in Michigan Copper Country

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones My Life Work, Cton Gz June 11, 1912, ISR p648, Mar 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 9, 1913
Michigan’s Copper Country – “Fiery” Mother Jones and the Cannons on the Scene

From the Escanaba Morning Press of August 8, 1913:

COPPERDOM IN DREAD
CRISIS IS IMPENDING
———-

Mother Jones, Calumet MI Ns p1, Aug 5, 1913

Houghton, Mich., Aug 7.-The general impression in the district affected by the copper mine workers’ strike is that a crisis impending through the presence of Mother Jones and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Cannon, three fiery orators of the Western Federation  of Miners. Persons who have had an opportunity in other strikes to see these people in action say they likely to inflame the strikers and their families to such a pitch of enthusiasm as may result in a reoccurrence of the of the first week of the strike.

The leaders of the strike here, Messrs. Mahoney, Miller and Lowney, have counselled peace in all their recent speeches, have the strikers to preserve law and order and to wait with determination because they are going to win.

But the speeches made by Cannon and his wife [Laura Gregg Cannon] at the Kansankoti hall, Hancock, Tuesday night were certainly not pacific. They aroused more enthusiasm than any speakers previously heard here since the strike opened and gave a good forecast of the result of their later speeches.

The strikers are for the most part phlegmatic Huns, Croatians and Finns, members of races not given to vociferous outbursts. If the Jones and the Cannons of the strike forces can stir these people up something more exciting than has been seen in the past week may be expected.

Mother Jones and Mrs. Cannon have reputations for exciting the women of strike districts to a point of frenzy resulting in rioting. Something of this sort is feared.

An example of the dangerous potentiality in Mother Jones can be seen in the interview given out by her at Calumet Tuesday afternoon [August 5th]. She said:

I’m a socialist, Why shouldn’t I be? That is the party that stands ready to help the working man.

I can’t see the need for the militia. Take a plumber and make him a major and he swells up like a toad and seems to forget that he is a workingman. The struggle is between the employer and employee and the state ought to let them fight it out. The strikers don’t believe in damaging property or the destruction of lives and I always impress on the men that they shouldn’t do damage.

They threw me into the bull pen in West Virginia, but before then, I went with 16 representatives of the miners to see the governor. When they heard I was coming, the governor wired for the fire department and the police and the legislators crawled under their desks and cried, “Is she coming?” The firemen came running up the streets without their socks. I had the devil scared out of the whole bunch of sewer rats. An old woman like me, over 80 years old. They thought I was coming to murder them, I guess.

What do you think the charge was they arrested me on. Stealing a field gun, my dears, and the damn fools were looking for it in the hills for months.

Ah, boys this is a terrible thing to go through. I hope you don’t see the like here. I saw my brave boys, who I know would not commit a crime, taken from their homes to far-away jails while their wives and babies screamed for their husbands. I raised my hand to heaven and prayed for their safe return.

And they talk about the red flag, bless you. Why, don’t they know the red flag was the first flag hoisted at Lexington, that a farmer who didn’t have time to put his shirt on went into the ranks of the bloody Sassenachs [English persons] and waved his red shirt in the air to cheer his comrades. Don’t they know the red bar is the first on the flag, signifying that blood was shed for the union?

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Hellraisers Journal: Miners of Michigan Copper Country Request Meeting with Operators to Discuss Working Conditions

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Wealth to Producer, WFM Motto, Miners Mag Jan 1, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 16, 1913
Hancock, Michigan – Organized Copper Miners Request Meeting with Operators

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of July 8, 1913:

MI Copper Strike, Miners Make Demands, Brk Dly Egl p4, July 8, 1913

Letter from Copper District Union (W. F. of M.) to C. & H. Mines,
James MacNaughton, Manager:

Copper District Union
Western Federation of Miners
Box 217, Hancock Mich., July 14, 1913

To the Calumet & Hecla, Tamarack, Ahmeek, Allouez, Centennial, Superior, Laurium, Isle Royale, and all other mining companies connected with and under the management of Calumet & Hecla; James MacNaughton, manager.

GENTLEMEN: Your employees, organized into various unions of the Western Federation of Miners, have decided by referendum vote to ask that you meet their representatives in conference on some day during this month for the purpose of discussing the possibilities of shortening the working day, raising wages, and making some changes in the working conditions.

The men working in your mines are dissatisfied with the wages, hours, and other conditions of employment. Realizing that as individuals they would not have sufficient strength to correct these evils or to lessen the burden placed upon them, they have organized into the local unions of the Western Federation of Miners, and through the local unions they have formed one compact body of the whole copper district, with an understanding and hope that from now on they may be enabled to sell their labor collectively with greater advantages for themselves as well as their employers.

While the men have decided that they must have greater remuneration for their services and that the working day must be shortened, it is not their or our desire that we should have a strike, with all the sufferings that it is bound to bring to them, to the employers, and to the general public. On the other hand, we earnestly hope that the questions that have arisen between us would be settled amicably, with fairness and justice to both sides. Should you have the same feeling, we believe that the friendly relations that have existed between you and your employees in the past will continue in the future.

However, should you follow the example given by some of the most stupid and unfair mine owners in the past, the men have instructed us by the same referendum vote to call as strike in all the mines owned and controlled by your company.

We deem it unnecessary to set forth the facts and reasons for the demand for higher wages, shorter hours, and other things, in this letter, as we intend to do that in the conference – should you be fair enough to meet us.

We hope you realize that labor has just as much right to organize as capital, and that at this age these two forces, labor and capital, while their interests are not identical, must get together and solve the problems that confront them.

We expect to have your answer not later than on the 21st of this month. If you agree to meet us our representatives will be ready for a conference on any day and at any place you may choose; provided you do not set the date any later than the 28th of this month. Your failure to answer this will be taken as proof that you are not willing to meet us and to have the matters settled peacefully.

Hoping to hear from you soon, we remain,

Respectfully, yours.

Dan Sullivan,
President Copper District Union
of the Western Federation of Miners
C.E. Hietala,
Secretary Copper District Union
of the Western Federation of Miners

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: Red Special Returns Via Northern Route: Spokane to Hancock, Michigan

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re Political Scabbing, AtR p2, Oct 3, 1908
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 6, 1908
The Red Special on the Northern Route Across the Plains

EVD SP Ticket Debs n Hanford, AtR p3, Oct 3, 1908

The Socialist Red Special carried the Debs Campaign across the plains from Spokane, homeward,  via the northern route, arriving in Chicago on morning of September 25th, and, without so much as one full day of rest, headed out again to begin the eastern tour that same morning. The Chicago Tribune of September 26th reported that the Socialist Party’s candidate for President made 187 speeches and traveled 9,000 miles during the Campaign’s western tour.

From the Appeal to Reason of October 3, 1908:

BACK BY THE NORTH
—–
Red Special Re-crosses the Rockies and
Sweeps Across the States Toward
Michigan on Return Trip.
—–

With the finish of the Red Special’s
western trip at Chicago, Sept. 25, it will
leave immediately through Indiana and Ohio
for a tour of the east.
—–

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